“I think it’s much more important that they are a critical thinker, somebody who’s able to reach out across a broad range of stakeholders and help create the relationships that the ministry needs to cultivate and is good at making decisions, good at asking the right questions,” he said.

McCuaig-Boyd and the new environment minister, Shannon Phillips, have their work cut out for them, said Severson-Baker.

“There’s a big backlog, especially on the climate change file,” he said.

The to-do list also includes matters related to oilsands tailings waste and renewable energy.

“One of the things we’d like to do is sit down and understand what their priorities are and help them make some decisions about how to prioritize because the list is too long to deal with everything at once.”